The funeral prayer was offered for the deceased
once in America and again when he was brought to Pakistan

Question

A muslim from our jamaah recently
died and his family shipped the body back to pakistan, his janaza was prayed here in new
york and again in pakistan. My question is which is the proper janaza.Jazakalla Khairan.

Answer

Praise be to Allaah.

It is correct to offer the Janaazah prayer for
the deceased more than once. Both prayers are valid and it is hoped that the prayers will
be an intercession for the deceased. Ibn Qudaamah said: “If a person catches up with
the janaazah (funeral) but did not offer the prayer, he can still pray (Salaat
al-Janaazah) for the deceased. This was done by ‘Ali and Anas, may Allaah be pleased
with them, and by Sulaymaan ibn Rabee’ah, Abu Hamzah and Mu’ammar ibn Sameer.
The prayer may be offered at the graveside, and it may be repeated before the burial
either in congregation or individually. This was stated by Ahmad, who said: “There is
nothing wrong with that. It was done by a number of the Companions of the Messenger of
Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).”

(al-Mughni,
2/512)

In a hadeeth, Ibn ‘Abbaas said: “The
Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) reached a new grave, and they formed
a row behind him, and he recited Takbeer (said “Allaahu akbar”) four
times.”

(Agreed upon. Al-Bukhaari, 1319, Muslim, 1586).

Al-Sheeraazi said: “If someone comes who
has not yet offered the (funeral) prayer for him, he should do so.”

(al-Muhadhdhab
, 1/134).

Both the prayers are valid, because the prayer
for the deceased may be offered more than once for a valid reason. Some of the scholars
mentioned that it is permissible for a person who missed the funeral prayer to offer the
prayer over him in his grave, up to a period of one month following his death. So those
who offered the prayer for him in Pakistan did so because they had not prayed for him
before that.

We must also point out that the Sunnah is to bury the
deceased where he died, except in cases of necessity. So if there is a Muslim graveyard in
the place where a person dies, he should be buried there. And Allaah knows best.